Playing to Win! Lessons in Building Pendo Well Past $100M ARR

The SaaS Revolution Show

In this episode of the SaaS Revolution Show our host Alex Theuma is joined by Todd Olson, founder & CEO of Pendo, who shares his lessons in building Pendo well past $100M ARR. "I would say we're more aggressive than the average company. First off, there's rules. We are not a custom software shop, I do not build things for one customer. However, if there's something on our roadmap anyway and it's, I don't know, let's say, 12 months from now, and this prospect needs it now or sooner, I am willing to rearrange things. As I tell my prod teams "don't get married to your roadmap", married means you have emotional attachment to it and that you can't move things around, because what better proxy for prioritisation than speaking with the customer and them saying "I will buy now if you have it now"." Todd shares: - Pendo's founding story - The greatest signal of prioritisation a business can have - His philosophy of 'hiring for pain' - The impact active coaching had on his team - Their two year journey from $1M-$10M ARR: tripling growth rates and a high percentage of inbound demand - The three strategic anchors Pendo uses to make decisions, incl. being 'bold by choice' - How they've dealt with company growth often outpacing human and professional growth and more!Check out the other ways SaaStock is serving SaaS founders 🇺🇸 SaaStock USA 2025: 13-15 May 2025 | Austin, Texas. Connect, learn and thrive at the leading conference for B2B SaaS Founders, Operators and Investors from Pre-Seed to Series C. (https://ti.to/saastock/saastock-usa-2025) 🇮🇪 SaaStock Europe 2025: 12-14 October 2025 | Dublin, Ireland. "The best SaaS conference for founders, execs & investors in Europe, period." - Christoph Janz, Partner, Point Nine. (https://share.hsforms.com/1FbUpCXpJT8um3MehUUYcAg3upof) 🤝 SaaStock Founder Membership: A private members group of B2B SaaS founders between $100K - $10M ARR who are committed to growth and helping others (https://www.saastock.com/founder-membership/) 🌎 SaaStock Local: Monthly meet-ups in cities all around the world, bringing together SaaS enthusiasts and experts to discuss the most pressing topics in SaaS (https://local.saastock.com/home)